CALVADOS BRANDY from Normandy in France

Calvados is a very special part of Normandy where the green pastures remain a feature of the region's world famous cheese industry.

The English Channel runs along four hundred kilometres of shoreline . . . and thanks to the ocean's influence on the weather the rich clay soils hold abundant reserves of water. The perfect conditions for apples . . . of which there is certainly no shortage in the Normandy countryside.

The area of production covers all of lower Normandy . . . with its heartland in the Auge Country . . . . that's where they make Calvados brandy entitled to the distinction of the controlled origine lable . . . Calvados De Pays D'Auge . . . Auge Country Calvados.

The Normandy apple harvest is now well underway. In general only apple trees that have already lost half their fruit are picked . . . that's a sure sign of ripeness. The rest are recovered by shaking the trees or using poles . . . in a process which stretches back generations.

Once picked they're stored in hay lofts in the auge country tradition . . . and later pulped. The pulp is then layed down in thin layers on cloth covered draining trays. Ten to twenty layers are stacked under the press . . . and soon the nectar of the apple begins to flow.

Once the juice is fully fermented, the cider is ready for distillation.

Auge country Calvados must be distilled in batches in a special two part still . . . a double distillation process is performed.

This produces a flavoured colourless fiery brandy with a alcohol content of sixty nine to seventy two percent.

Now begins the process where ageing, oak wood and the know-how of the cellar master work together to bring the calvados to its full potential. No calvados can be marketed before approval by a tasting committee from the national institute of controlled origin . . . and two years of ageing are required under the supervision of the national bureau of Calvados and apple brandy.

The making of Calvados like the production of its source product cider hasn't changed in centuries . . . and while the oak barrels and ancient stills are part of the Normandy tradition . . . here in the Barossa Valley in South Australia . . . the local cider makers clamber over stainless steel tanks to test their latest batch.

"That's marvellous colour."

"Yer fabulous . . . isn't lovely, fresh clean . . . lovely fresh apple character."

Mel Scriven . . . from the Australian Cider Company and Trevor Jones from Kellermeister Wines at Lyndoch .. . climb up here every few months to sample this fermenting golden brew . . . . sourced from apples orchards throughout the Adelaide Hills and beyond.

And while they maybe picking in Normandy . . . the blossoms on these trees . . . from apple orchards established nearly a century ago at Kersbrook . . . . hold the promise of plenty more Golden Delicious, Granny Smith and Jonathons to come for makers Mel and Kevin.

Australian cider makers use table varieties for their juice . . . while the French and English opt for apples with more stringent and bitter qualities . . . but regardless of the apple . . . old habit die hard for Mel . . . a Hampshire lad who knows his product well.

As a child, we always did the homebrew with cider . . . and we used to go on the farms in Cornwall and Devon . . . and taste their scrumpies . . . and all the cider produced in that area . . . so yes I think it's a natural progression after doing so many other things.

"So I take it the English cider makers would have known about the people across the Channel in Normandy as well."

"No doubt . . . no doubt cider was introduced into England in the Normandy times which is a thousand years ago."

Back then there wasn't the same level of sophistication when checking the local brew . . . and here Mel calls on the expertise of well known winemaker Trevor Jones to sample his product.

"Pretty good, spot on in terms of the PH and the acid level is spot on . . . we'll just test the sugar level now."

For Trevor . . . cidermaking is a simple process . . . but the making of a Calvados-style brandy holds a very special challenge . . . one which his company Trevor Jones Fine Wines . . . might soon take up.

"We've certainly looked into making an apple style brandy and you might see us doing that in the next couple of years".

But for now you can sample Mel Scriven's local cider . . . with it's big head silkiness of French Calvados at next week's Normandy Festival at Carrick Hill. If you have and further questions please phone 8272 4281 or email info@postcards.sa.com.au